What is your best advice for creating content that establishes your brand as a thought leader in your industry? How do you approach thought leadership content differently?

Question

Establishing thought leadership through content is a powerful way to build credibility and influence in your industry. This article presents key strategies and actionable insights, drawing from the expertise of seasoned professionals in the field. From conducting original research to crafting memorable content with strong viewpoints, these approaches will help you position yourself as a trusted authority in your niche.

Gursharan Singh · Answer

I recommend conducting original research and creating content that utilizes robust data to provide readers with a clear understanding of why our perspective is valuable to them as stakeholders and readers.
In our practice, we begin by identifying content gaps in the market. For instance, we previously noticed a gap in the testing of AI content detector tools, such as Copyleaks.
We conducted experiments involving deception tactics, utilizing rephrased AI-generated content from tools like Quillbot, and deliberately introducing grammatical errors into the content.
These experiments revealed a 30% misclassification rate in such tools. This is a significant concern for businesses, universities, and other professionals, raising questions about the reliability of methods used to check for AI content.
We then transformed this research into a LinkedIn carousel post and a website blog, maximizing its reach.
The data in the research attracted backlinks and citations, while the LinkedIn post drove engagement with other professionals. Simultaneously, the blog generated a 97% engagement rate, which is considerably higher than our 88% average.
Based on our experience, conducting original research and writing content based on it sets you on the path to becoming a thought leader in your field.

Michelle Mellon · Answer

Think. Feel. Project. That's the formula I use for myself and for clients when helping them with their own thought leadership. 
Think hard about the challenges your customers or clients are facing. Not just the symptoms, but the underlying barriers. 
Feel around for what others are doing and saying. How are you different? What solution feels both in alignment with your brand values and what your audience needs? 
Project what those needs are now, a year from now, and 5-10 years from now and speak to that. 
My thought leadership approach is different because it's not reactionary. Quick response and relevance are good, but constantly pivoting in the moment and chasing each shiny ball that comes along in our increasingly fast-paced world is just not sustainable. 
I always lay a foundation--a thought leadership platform--from which ideas are built and modified. That platform ensures that you're prepared and able to respond responsibly in the moment, adapt and evolve, and throughout it all, you remain consistently you, with your brand values and objectives supporting every thought, decision, and communication. 
That's the kind of strategic reliability that builds trust, loyalty, and secures your reputation as a thought leader.

Dennis Seymour · Answer

Thought leadership in healthcare is tricky because everyone is skeptical - and rightfully so. You can't simply share hot takes and expect doctors to trust you with their patients' lives.
My approach is entirely different from typical thought leadership:
1. Lead with data, not opinionsInstead of saying "telemedicine is the future," I'll share "We've seen a xxx% increase in virtual consultations post-pandemic in Philippine clinics." Hard numbers beat bold predictions every time.
2. Address real industry problems firstBefore positioning ourselves as the solution, I spend months just highlighting problems. "Is anyone else spending 2+ hours daily on patient records?" This builds credibility before we ever mention our platform.
3. Be wrong publicly and learn openlyI wrote a piece admitting our early mistakes with the implementation of a feature. It garnered more engagement than any "success story" ever did. Healthcare professionals respect honesty over perfection.
4. Focus on the "why" behind trendsInstead of just saying "AI is transforming healthcare," I explain why Philippine healthcare specifically needs AI (doctor shortage, geographic barriers, etc.). Context matters more than buzzwords.
My content process:Monday: Monitor Filipino medical Facebook groups for real pain pointsTuesday: Research actual data and case studiesWednesday: Write from the industry's perspective, not our company'sThursday: Share insights that help competitors tooFriday: Measure engagement quality over quantity
The key insight: Healthcare thought leadership isn't about being the smartest person in the room - it's about asking the questions others are afraid to ask.

Alice Xerri · Answer

I write thought leadership content for founders every week, and the biggest shift I've seen comes when people stop playing it safe.
True thought leadership content doesn't just inform. It has a point of view, and it says something useful and memorable. That could be a strong opinion, a new analogy, a useful framework, or a story that makes someone think, "Hmm, I hadn't thought about it like that."
When I create this kind of content (for myself or my clients), I focus on clarity, originality, and tone. You want it to be something worth remembering, not just something that sounds smart. The goal is to be useful enough and distinctive enough that people come back for more. You also need to make sure your content feels like you, not like it could be written by anyone else in your industry.

Jenn Prochaska · Answer

My advice is to determine your positioning. Some people call it your "why," while branding experts refer to it as your "essence."
Too often, individuals who aspire to position themselves as thought leaders lack a cohesive positioning statement. Any brand, whether it's a company or a person, needs consistency. It needs to plant a flag that says, "This is where I stand." While there's more room for flexibility in thought leadership (because we are people, after all), knowing what you want people to associate with you helps streamline the stories you share.
And it is about storytelling. Good leaders know how to bring people along. They rally and excite people while also letting them know they're all one team. We need to weave in both successes and failures. It's about the lessons we learn along the way.
Any thought leadership approach will want to take into account the emotional response of the leader. If you're feeling insecure, you may leave out details that you feel don't reflect well on you. Having a larger ego may cause you to forget the mistakes that happened or mindset shifts you needed to make along the way.
This is where working with a message strategist or ghostwriter becomes helpful. They're trained to help you stay consistent with your positioning when emotions might pull you off track.

Etty Burk, Ph.D. · Answer

The best thought leadership doesn't shout expertise. Instead, it invites reflection. My advice? Don't just share what you know. Share what you're learning—especially from moments that didn't go as planned.
In my field, where leadership advice can often sound polished but disconnected, I aim to write from the messy middle. I use stories of real organizational dilemmas, my imperfect decisions, and lessons that emerged through struggle. That's where trust is built. That's what seems to resonate.
I try to approach content like a conversation, not a lecture. Every post, article, or talk starts with a question I've wrestled with or a pattern I've noticed across clients. I pair insights with strategies leaders can try today, not just ideas they'll admire. The goal isn't to prove I'm "smart" but rather to create space for others to think differently, act more bravely, and lead with more intention.
Authentic thought leadership is less about broadcasting your voice—and more about helping others find theirs.

Ana Rabaça · Answer

Honestly, the key is to stop trying to sound like a thought leader and start sounding like a real person with something useful to say. If you wouldn't share that information with a friend or colleague to help them think differently or form an opinion about a subject, then you need to take a step back and reevaluate if it's something worth sharing.
Thought leadership isn't about being the loudest one in the room. For it to be meaningful and land with your audience, your message needs to be clear, sharp, and say the thing people have been circling around but haven't been able to put into words yet. That's how you make people trust you.
I approach thought leadership pieces as if I'm writing a smart and slightly spicy memo to the people I want in my corner. Other types of content can afford to be neutral or purely helpful, but thought leadership can't. It has to spark something in the reader, either by challenging the status quo, suggesting a new way of seeing things, or by delivering that "Finally, someone said it!" feeling in the reader.

N'tchidje Doumbia · Answer

As a video marketer, I believe the best advice I can offer on thought leadership is to create long-form content. In this day and age, there is no better approach. You must view yourself as a 'media company'.
Long video podcasts, in particular, are highly effective. I'm referring to episodes that are 60 minutes or longer, even up to 2 hours in some cases.
There are multiple reasons for this approach:
1. It establishes you as an expert in the field. If you can intelligently discuss a very niche topic for more than an hour, demonstrating expertise and results, you'll build massive trust.
2. Very few people are willing to appear on camera. You'll be part of the 1% of internet users actually generating content for the 99%.
3. You'll be able to repurpose this long-form video podcast into multiple short clips that you can distribute across various social networks. This will elevate your brand and expand your reach. If you repeat this process for months, you'll develop a very targeted following.
4. Your transcripts will be used for SEO and GEO, which will spread your knowledge across the internet.
To create this long-form content, you can hire a local video production company or even do it yourself.
When it comes to long-form content, while image quality is important, the content is paramount. That's why even shooting it yourself might suffice. Of course, if budget allows, hiring professionals is recommended.
Let's say you've been in the field for a decade or two; you have a lot of insight to share, and this is how you build thought leadership in your industry.
You could use an interview format or a monologue; both work well. You can also appear on various podcasts and participate in talks and conferences, having them film your appearances, and then repurpose that content as well.
In my opinion, this is the best strategy these days, and I've seen it work on multiple occasions with our clients. The more niche the topic, the easier it is to get ranked and branded quickly.

Yunna Takeuchi · Answer

Being open about the structural issues encountered and the solutions created from running global tour operations is thus creating 'real' thought leadership in a way that slick success stories never will. Our increase in industry engagement during the week following the publication, plus active discussion and the creation of new working groups to carry forward and evolve our ideas for transformation, inspired us to share our deep dive into reimagining local partnerships. This included specific revenue impacts, guide retention strategies, and community support initiatives in our beloved book of business. Competing companies then reached out for partnership talks, which placed us as revolutionaries in the travel industry!
This vulnerability-focused model demonstrates true expertise in real-time problem-solving, with practical advice competitors can take and use in their own practice. Thought leadership content should focus on broader industry challenges and offer up actionable solutions that have been proven out in our own operations, so it's genuinely valuable for readers, helps build credibility, and backs up results quantitatively. Our top-shared posts break down market trends by combining internal data with cultural perspectives of our global guide network.
Describe and disseminate your actual decision-making in the face of industry challenges, including your failures and the turnabouts that resulted in solid responses. If at all possible, give concrete measures and results to showcase that your subject mastery is of practical value. Zoom in on the shared struggles of the entire industry and provide proven solutions that your readers can emulate. True leadership comes from being generous with what you know and from helping not only your own business grow, but also others.

Emma Alves · Answer

To be a thought leader, you need to dismantle the conventions of the industry and provide your readers with something they were not anticipating. It is not enough to share knowledge; you must add personality to your content. Reveal the backstage of how you made your decisions and the errors you committed. Human beings will relate more to genuine, real-life experiences than to a perfected textbook experience. I tend to give not only the information that works but also the information that doesn't, and why. This vulnerability builds confidence and makes my brand stand out amongst others who just display success stories.
With the development of thought leadership material, it's not about the trends and advice, which are already presented by other people. It's about being able to find an angle to break the conversation. I approach it with inquisitiveness - what is not being told, and why not? As an example, in family law, I don't simply describe legal procedures, but rather discuss the emotional impact on the client, and how the system can be improved from a human aspect. Such an approach transforms mundane content into something that provokes real discussion, and the brand doesn't just sound like a voice in the industry, but a game-changer.

Julia Rueschemeyer · Answer

I am a high-volume, solo practice divorce attorney in Massachusetts. My website outranks the websites of hundreds of larger, longer-established law practices.
A key to my superior content is that the audience for all my content is normal people who are thinking of getting divorced. This would seem an obvious strategy, but it is not. Most law websites are aimed at impressing other lawyers, and they value being obscure and opaque, which can allow them to charge high fees since they present themselves as doing something esoteric.
My content, in contrast, is aimed at explaining things to potential clients so clearly that they could do their own divorces themselves! All my content is written by a professor of communication—I explain the laws and legal procedures to him, he does some research, and he produces content that is clear and easy to understand. He is used to explaining things to college students in crystal clear terms, and he is not handicapped by having gone to law school and worrying about obscure hair-splitting. It is precisely by NOT trying to be a legal scholar or legal pioneer that I am able to consistently create content that Google and potential clients find attractive.

John Overton · Answer

My career has revolved around solving problems others deemed "impossible" and then defining entirely new technology paradigms. When you're fundamentally shifting what's considered feasible, true thought leadership becomes a prerequisite for market adoption.
We approach content by articulating the core, seemingly impossible problem, demonstrating how our solutions break those fundamental limitations, and then showing the cascading, systemic impact. Kove:SDM™, for instance, transforms AI and ML capabilities and reduces power consumption by up to 50% by making memory infinitely scalable.
This approach is how we demonstrated that what was "once considered impossible" is now a reality, just as my co-invention of distributed hash tables pioneered unlimited scaling for cloud storage decades ago. We back this with empirical data, such as the multiple world records Kove has set for storage performance.

Allan Hou · Answer

Becoming a thought leader in your industry can be achieved when you start to recognize knowledge gaps within your field and how to become a source to fill those gaps. Instead of producing content that simply repeats industry trends, strive to create something based on experience and practical application. Be practical and concrete by using real-life examples, case studies, and personal experiences as learning lessons, as these may better capture your audience's attention. For example, sharing details about the intricacies of cross-border logistics management during peak seasons can provide valuable insights to other players in the transportation sector, thus establishing you as a resourceful person when it comes to industry issues.
Unlike information geared towards superficial knowledge, thought leadership content must confront the status quo and stimulate deeper reflections. It's not just about exchanging facts but rather initiating discussions. Seize the opportunity to express your personal opinions about changes in the industry, whether they align with popular narratives or not. The aim is not merely to inform but also to make your readers think and engage in discussions. This approach will eventually build trust and establish your brand as a leader in the industry rather than contributing to the market noise.

Alex Smereczniak · Answer

Start by sharing what you're working on. Thought leadership grows when you document your work, your process, and what you're learning along the way. I create content based on real questions we hear from franchise buyers and what we see day-to-day as we build. This helps others understand what we do and how we think.
We keep the structure simple: one insight per post, one story at a time. It builds trust through consistency and clear communication.

Mateusz Mucha · Answer

One way we've approached thought leadership a bit differently at Omni is by creating what we call "marketing calculators."
These aren't built for strict scientific use like the rest of our tools. They're fun, surprising, and sometimes a little weird - like our Flat vs Round Earth Calculator. People love them because they're engaging and unexpected, and we love making them because they remind us that data can be playful. Thought leadership doesn't always have to be serious. Sometimes showing that you understand your field and know how to have fun with it builds more trust than any white paper ever could.

Jason Bandarra · Answer

The most important part of creating content to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry is to ensure that you are read and heard. This means it is critical to select the right platforms to reach your target audience. You can have the best ideas and experience in the world, but if no one can read or learn about those qualities, it will do little good.
Therefore, it is critical that you take time to assess the right platforms to present your ideas, whether it be LinkedIn, community groups, or industry-standard online publications. In addition, hosting or being a part of webinars and podcasts, and matching your verbal tone with your written one, can be key to reinforcing your reputation. By taking time to choose the right platforms to publish or showcase your ideas and experience, you can better establish credibility as a thought leader in your industry.

Kyle Sobko · Answer

To establish your brand as a thought leader, you should prioritize publishing new information that is not discussed by other people. Instead of repeating well-known information, introduce original data or case studies coming from your personal experience. For example, I can talk about how our hospital beds allow for faster recovery which is specific to us as a brand.
Do not use industry jargon or well known information. Thought leadership involves presenting some fresh ideas or challenging the status quo. When you introduce new concepts or give examples in real life, you demonstrate that you are not a follower but a leader in a discussion.

Dr. Nima Azarbehi · Answer

The best tip I can give on writing content that will establish you as a thought leader is to write based on real experiences. At Melt Lipo AZ, I do not simply discuss trends, but also describe why particular treatments are effective, what patients should expect, and how we tailor care to achieve actual results. Our clients appreciate genuine conversations.
I have learned that as long as your audience feels informed, they will also feel empowered, and this builds trust in the long run. Talk as friends, rather than as a business. To anyone who wants to shine in the profession, use your values, use your voice, and let your expertise speak through your desire to assist others.

Jennifer Claytor · Answer

To create thought-leadership pieces, your safest bet is to develop pieces that have insights that only your people can provide. You can't put your spin on reused thinking, only actual experience. Highlight problem-solving that your readers would want to hear about and support your assertions using statistics, case histories, or lessons learned yourself.
Thought leadership posts have to be better than most marketing communications. Don't explain what you do, explain why the trends are changing, what's next, and what individuals can do to get ready. This is where credibility enters into play, and your brand is where individuals can turn for the solution of the future.

How to Establish Thought Leadership with Content

Table of Contents

How to Establish Thought Leadership with Content

Conduct Original Research for Valuable Insights

Build a Strategic Thought Leadership Platform

Lead with Data in Healthcare Thought Leadership

Craft Memorable Content with Strong Viewpoints

Determine Your Positioning for Consistent Messaging

Share Learning Experiences to Build Trust

Write Authentic Content That Sparks Conversation

Create Long-Form Video Content for Expertise

Tackle Industry Challenges with Proven Solutions

Break Conventions with Genuine Personal Experiences

Explain Complex Topics in Clear, Accessible Language

Demonstrate Paradigm Shifts with Empirical Data

Fill Knowledge Gaps with Practical Insights

Document Your Work Process and Learnings

Engage Audiences with Playful Data Tools

Choose the Right Platforms for Your Message

Introduce Original Data from Personal Experience

Share Real Experiences to Empower Clients

Provide Unique Insights from Your Expertise

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